It was Monday morning and we had just finished editing the podcast when we got the word that NSW had a new Fair Trading minister.Meetings are cancelled, lunch is postponed, and schedules are re-drawn for the simple reason that this is, in our world, a big deal.Eleni Potinos may have been a media footnote in the cabinet reshuffle instigated by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet this week, but for us she is big news.There are four things that jump out, for those of us who have been close observers of strata politics for the past few years.One, she is a woman; after six men in a row, the first female ever to serve as Fair Trading Minister for the Liberals.Two, at 35, she is relatively young, confirming Fair Trading as being a training-wheels ministry.Three, she comes from Miranda, an area with a lot of high-rises. But it’s the fourth thing that’s the clincher – she has also been given the Small Business portfolio.At a time when there is clear evidence that strata is too big an issue to be lumped in with broken toys, faulty toasters, dodgy mechanics and sneaky real estate agents, our newly minted Fair Trading Minister gets a whole other portfolio to look after as well.Forget sexting and Barfgate – this is the real scandal. The government clearly thinks that with the Building Commissioner on the warpath, and 139 proposals on the table, they have fixed strata. They clearly don’t realise they are just at the beginning, not the end.Meanwhile we also look at the dramas at Tamarama where a bid to rescue a huge block that really shouldn’t be where it is has hit the Building Commission buffers.We examine the major trends in the real estate in the past year.And we have a non-Christmas poem that might bring a smile to your face.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00Exciting times, in strata land. We're leading up to Christmas and then all of a sudden, Santa Claus drops in our laps, a brand new Fair Trading Minister!Sue 00:10Wow, yet another one!Jimmy 00:12 This will be the Liberal Party's 7th Fair Trading minister, since they came to power.Sue 00:18And how many years is that?Jimmy 00:20It's like, one a year.Sue 00:21Oh my gosh!Jimmy 00:23 Yes and it's a woman, which is their first female Fair Trading Minister.Sue 00:28Yes, because Labor usually has female Fair Trading Ministers, don't they?Jimmy 00:31The last three were, and they seem to have changed the name of the Ministry back to Fair Trading. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about trends in property. We'll talk about what's going on in the Tamarama apartment block. And, we might even have a Christmas poem.Sue 00:49Oh, excellent!Jimmy 00:50So that's all coming up. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:56And I'm Sue Williams and I write property for Domain.Jimmy 00:59And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. So, as I said at the top of the podcast, we have a new Fair Trading Minister.Sue 01:19Yes. Tell us about her; I don't really know anything about her, really.Jimmy 01:23Her name is Eleni Patinos. She is the member for Miranda, down in the Shire. I was hoping to dig through Google and find out stuff about her political beliefs and whatever. What I hit first of all, was a coup
____________________________________________________
Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
